The best Mikhail Zharov’s movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Mikhail Zharov’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Mikhail Zharov.
Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot
7.8/10
This is the second part of a projected three-part epic biopic of Russian Czar Ivan Grozny, undertaken by Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein at the behest of Josef Stalin. Production of the epic was stopped before the third part could be filmed, due to producer dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's introducing forbidden experimental filming techniques into the material, more evident in this part than the first part. As it was, this second part was banned from showings until after the deaths of both Eisenstein and Stalin, and a change of attitude by the subsequent heads of the Soviet government. In this part, as Ivan the Terrible attempts to consolidate his power by establishing a personal army, his political rivals, the Russian boyars, plot to assassinate him.
Ivan the Terrible, Part I
7.7/10
Sergei Eisenstein's final film, this is the first part of a three-part biopic of Czar Ivan Grozny, which was never completed due again to producer dissatisfaction with Eisenstein's attempts to use forbidden experimental filming techniques and excessive cost overruns. The second part was completed but not released for a decade after Eisenstein's death and a change of heart in the USSR government toward his work; the third part was only in its earliest stage of filming when shooting was stopped altogether. In this first part, set during the early part of his reign, Ivan faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people.
Aelita: Queen of Mars
6.4/10
A young man travels to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group with the support of Queen Aelita, who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.
Outskirts
7/10
Outskirts is an internationally renowned masterpiece of early sound cinema. In a remote Russian village during World War I, colorful and nuanced characters experience divided loyalties: family loyalty vs. personal desire, nationalism vs. transcendent humanism.
The Village Detective
7.1/10
Police officer Aniskin lives with his family in a rural Russian village whose inhabitants admire his gentleness and wisdom. When an accordion is stolen from the local clubhouse, he begins to investigate.
Cain the XVIII-th
7.1/10
A fairytale about homeless musician and his love for the princess.
Chess Fever
7.1/10
With an international chess tournament in progress, a young man becomes completely obsessed with the game. His fiancée has no interest in it, and becomes frustrated and depressed by his neglect of her, but wherever she goes she finds that she cannot escape chess. On the brink of giving up, she meets the world champion, Capablanca himself, with interesting results.
A Girl with Guitar
6.1/10
A romantic story about the girl working in the musical instruments store.
The Village Detective: A Song Cycle
6.6/10
Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Iceland, July 9, 2016. The surprising discovery of a canister —containing four reels of The Village Detective (Деревенский детектив), a 1969 Soviet film—, caught in the nets of an Icelandic trawler, is the first step in a fascinating journey through the artistic life of film and stage actor Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (1899-1981), icon and star of an entire era of Russian cinema.
Road to Life
6.8/10
Young hobos are taken to a new camp to become good Soviet citizens. This camp works without any guards, and it works well. But crooks kill one of the young people when they try to damage the newly built railroad to the camp.
Elder Sister
7.4/10
A drama about a life of two sisters - Nadya and Lida, who both are dreaming about theater and actress career.
Yunyi Frits
5.7/10
War-time satire about the inhumanity of the nazis.
Defense of Tsaritsyn
6/10
Propaganda film enhancing the role of I.V. Stalin in the defense of the city of Tsaritsyn (subsequently Stalingrad, at present Volgograd) by the red army during the Russian civil war.
The Anna Cross
6.9/10
Based on the short story by A. P. Chekhov. Beggar 18-year-old beauty Anna marries a rich 52-year-old official to help her father and brothers. After the death of the mother, the father drinks, the brothers go hungry. For the sake of her relatives, she is ready for anything, even to become the wife of an elderly, rude, vulgar and hated Modest Alexeyevich.
Engineer Kochin's Error
6.1/10
Engineer-designer of the Moscow aviation plant Cochin took the secret blueprints home. He didn't know that foreign intelligence had long been hunting for these blueprints...
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom
6.6/10
As she works in her tedious office job, Maria Ivanovna dreams about being married, and she has particular hopes that her co-worker Nikodim Mityushin will take an interest in her. Nikodim, though, is in love with Zina, who sells cigarettes on the sidewalk, and he frequently buys cigarettes from her even though he does not smoke. One day, a film crew uses Zina as an extra in an outdoor scene, and the cameraman, Latugin, falls in love with her. Latugin soon arranges an acting job for Zina. To complicate matters further, Zina has yet another admirer in Oliver MacBride, an American businessman who is visiting Moscow.
The Bear
7.8/10
A romantic comedy based on an Anton Chekhov play of the same name. A young man comes to collect a debt owed to him by the widow Popova's late husband. They argue , duel with pistols , and fall in love while all of this is witnessed by Popova's servant Luka.
A Noisy Household
6.9/10
A comedy about an army squad guarding the fake airport during WWII.
The Vyborg Side
6/10
The final part of trilogy about the life of a young factory worker, Maxim. Following the Russian Revolution, Maksim is appointed state commissar in charge of the national bank. With great efforts, he learns the complexies of the banking trade and begins to fight off sabotaging underlings. Dymba, now a violent enemy of the Republic, tries to rob a wine store but is arrested with Maksim's help. Maksim also exposes a conspiracy of a group of tsarist officers who prepare an attempt against Lenin. He then joins the Red Army in its fight against the German occupation.
Life in Bloom
5.7/10
About the life of the Russian biologist Ivan Michurin. 1912 year. Having rejected American offers to work abroad, Michurin continues his research in the Russian Empire, despite the fact that his ideas are not perceived by the tsarist government, the church and idealistic science. Michurin is supported by prominent scientists of the country and he continues to work hard. After the October Revolution, a small Michurin garden in the city of Kozlov (the biologist's homeland) becomes a large state nursery.
